Be Thankful
Thanksgiving. A day to celebrate and be thankful for what you have. It’s ironic though, our chaplin said, “We spend one day out of the year to be thankful and the other 364 complaining about what we don’t have.” Sadly, this statment is true, at least for me. Many people become so accustomed to everything around them that they take things(and people) for granted. At school, one of the things that I take for granted is how clean the campus is everyday. By the end of the day, I see lots of rubbish floating around in the bushes and on the ground. You should always try to leave a place cleaner than you found it but I know that I would feel embarrased to bend down in the middle of the quad, on my way to math, and pick up a bright red Icee straw. Or a napkin. It’s my own selfish reason. On campus, I’m also thankful for clean bathrooms. When I visit other schools, I realize how lucky I am to have clean, smell good, well stocked bathrooms at school.
I am also thankful for my family. I’m amazed that they still talk to me after all the times I’ve been a grouch. My parents deal with my ugly mood swings while my brother has to deal with my hogging of the computer. But, my sister is like the star of the show. When she went to the mainland for a weekend, I was sad. I immidietly noticed that there was no peppy little person in the mornings, or anyone to great me at the door when I got home from school. She always makes such a big effort to be helpful and supportive and I didn’t truly realize it until she wasn’t there. Now I make sure to spend time with her on the weekends and not just try and shoo her out of my life.
I’m also thankful for all the other people in life that I count on. My friends, teachers and coaches. I realize that they are very patient creatures who take time out of their lives to explain everything to me. True friends are always there for you and that’s what makes them so special. It’s amazing how you can feel so lonely when you’re lost in all your problems and frustations but when you talk to a friend, the troubles seem a little less scary. Problems are always easier to tackle with help.
So this Thanksgiving, I hope you took some time and just thought, even for a moment, of the little things in life. The big things in life are what matter, but the little things in life make it enjoyable.
“Maybe we’re not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human. Maybe we’re thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we’re thankful for the things we’ll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.”-Grey’s Anatomy
